To ensure the long-term success of the DAO vision, as a self-sustaining "innovation engine," some individuals are required to have a deep understanding of the vision, a strong ideology, and the background to judge and select the proper projects and research for funding. We have chosen to go with 9 governors as recommended by the Harmony ecosystem, which has the strictest recommendations for the proper establishment and maintenance of DAOs that we could find. It is essential that the governors represent a diverse set of viewpoints and different areas of expertise in order to properly judge the correct (research) projects to fund, so as to support the long-term goals of the DAO. Governors serve in terms and are elected through a democratic process.
Academic Expertise. To properly judge any proposed research and ensure that the scientific method is properly followed (sufficient sample sizes, peer review., etc.)
DLT Expertise. It is essential to be aware of the wider market, current trends, and innovations in this rapidly evolving field, so as to judge any proposed projects.
Programming Skills. The team of governors needs to be able to understand the code of proposed projects or follow technically challenging concepts.
Design Skills. Design and the "look and feel" of products are essential to their success, thus, the governors will need to evaluate this as well, to select projects that will be successful and benefit the ecosystem
Diversity. Our mission is to benefit not just one group in society but to improve the lives of as many people as possible through advancements in DLT technology. To make sure that no one is overlooked, and diverse viewpoints are represented, the group of governors should consist of people with different backgrounds, ages, and fields of experience.
When voting for new Governors the principle of diversity should be a large part of the consideration, while the other four traits are required to be filled, so as to ensure the continued well-being of the DAO
Membership ProposalsDecisions relating to Governor terms or compensation
Funding Proposals
Funding for the Governor's Treasury
Decisions on the terms and compensation of governors
Governors will hold bi-weekly meetings, with meeting minutes transcribed and published after every meeting. Governors will agree on all decisions that relate to internal DAO initiatives and spending and only revert to formal on-chain voting via Gnosis Safe Snap, if no consensus is reached in the meeting.
To facilitate Governor’s decision-making power, funds will be moved (via the voting of all members) from the main treasury to the Governor treasury, secured by a 5 out of 9 Gnosis Safe multi-sig wallets. This will empower Governors to spend funds on things like compensating DAO members for work on internal initiatives or paying subcontractors, without a formal vote and the associated delay (voting period, pre-execution period, etc.) that would come with it. Only formally voting on certain important decisions will keep the DAO flexible enough to act, while still being completely transparent and democratic.
Membership Applications
DAO membership applications must be made through our discord in the proper channel #membership-applications. Only applications approved through our discord are valid and will be voted on. If any membership applications are made that skip these steps (and a DAO member sponsors them), governors and members are required to vote against it. This can easily be checked by reviewing whether the vote has a link to an approved membership proposal post in our discord.
Donate - more funds to treasury than shares requested
Invest - shares represent amount of value donated
Contribute - service to the DAO offered, more shares than donation which could be as low as 0 in this case.
The application will then be reviewed by DAO members, and if approved, the applicant (or another DAO member in their stead) can make the membership request through the Aragorn client web interface. Governors are required to vote in favour of approved membership requests, and members voting against approved requests are strongly suggested to give a concrete reason for their misgivings via discord, as any reason for or against should be discussed during the application process.
Funding Applications
DAO funding applications follow the same process as membership applications and must be made via the #funding-applications channel. To further protect from spam votes (there is a deposit for each vote, which rises for each consecutive vote by the same person, so as to prevent spamming) and make sure that funding is only granted for projects that meet our standards, there is a thorough review process through our governors for each proposal. This way only (research) projects meeting our standards will be selected for a general vote.
